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Monday, September 15, 2014

Little Girls Room ~ Make Over

Today, I'm so excited to share with you my daughter's new room! This is something I have been working on little-by-little all summer and it's done! Well, I do have one wall to decorate, but considering how much is completed already, I can take my time with that!

My daughter will be turning 4 in a few months and I can already see the little girl in her. She is moving out of the toddler stage and becoming a little woman...sigh.
So, with that, I wanted to make her room more "little girl." This meant I was going to start from scratch and decorate more simply than I had before.

When we found out we were having a girl, my cousin made me an amazing quilt (see picture below). I loved it so much, I decided to decorate her room around it. The colors were perfect and who doesn't love owls (this was when the whole 'owl' fad was just beginning)? So, I had the idea to paint a tree on her wall and put owls on one of the branches. I thought painting it would make way for personal detail whereas a decal would not. This is how that turned out...

A lot of work went into creating that tree. We had a good friend trace the tree and owls on the wall and then I painted it and added the accents. I used extra material from the quilt to make the leaves of the tree and the wings on the owls. I thought putting material on the tree would bring out different dimensions.

Sadly, as you can see from the first picture above, it was time for the tree to go. I wanted to get away from the owl theme as well as minimize the amount of colors in her room.

In her first room re-do, about 2 years ago, I brought in the kitchen set from when my sister and I were kids and updated it. I created a whole wall for her to "Cook," "Bake," and "Dine."

Now that wall looks like this...

Less is more and that means less things/toys as well as less colors! My husband made that toy chest a long time ago, but it isn't until now that it has a pad on it! I bought foam from JoAnn's when it was 60% off since that stuff is so expensive. Then I went to about every fabric store in San Diego County until I found this one at Yardage Town in Chula Vista! I love the muted colors and pattern. It's not too busy, but allows for a few color accents. I used the same method to make the toy chest pad as I did these Throw Pillow Covers. It seemed the easiest to sew and it allows me to take it off to wash when needed.

These throw pillows are my happy place because of how I found them. I was prepared to make my own, but I thought I would take a quick peek at what Anna's Linens had...you never know with that place...and I found these that were PERFECT!!! You can't tell in these pictures, but there happens to be a bird in the material I used for the pad! I couldn't believe it when I saw this pillow. And they happened to have the salmon and gray color to match! I was thrilled!!!

Another area that I created 2 years ago was her reading nook. I transformed her closet into a little reading area. She used it from time-to-time, but when I moved her dresser into her brother's room, it was time to use her closet for storing clothes again!

Everyone asks how my husband got the changing table into the closet and although I'm not completely sure, but I think he had to take it apart and put it back together! Good man! This was the changing table I used for my son when he was in our room, but now the changing table pad is on top of the dresser in his room. To see those posts, click here: Baby Boy's Own Room & Nursery For Small Spaces

Now that my daughter is at the age that she can dress herself, I put all of her 'everyday' clothes where she could reach them. Then, all of her personal care items went on top. Be looking for the tutorial on the headband holder in a future post. I did use the same material to make that as I did to make the toy chest pad. It was so easy!

A kids room wouldn't be complete without an Art station! My daughter loves to draw and paint, and since we will be working on writing her letters and numbers soon, I thought it would be perfect to have a place to do that!

I had seen on Pinterest the idea to hang the art on clipboards and thought it was brilliant! I found the metal letters at Michaels.

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I had purchased the wire basket a long time ago with the intention to use for it's intended purpose ~ hang plants from it, but I never got around to doing that, so when I needed something to put her art materials in, I thought, why not?! I had the metal buckets left over from her 2nd birthday party and filled them with markers, colored pencils, crayons, etc.

Also at this ﻿age, she loves to play dress up! I love how she gets creative and either pretends to be a Disney princess or just a normal girl with a lot of jewelry on! But with dress up comes all the 'stuff' and it's a lot!!! So I needed somewhere I could store all it, but be accessible for her. I have had this armoire since college and I have used it in in almost every room of the house! Now it's back in her room and it is perfect for storing all of the dress up clothes and accessories! All I have to do is close the doors and drawers all that 'stuff' goes away! Ha!

The top of the armoire is perfect as her night stand! She loves the fact that she can turn her lamp on and off all by herself!

She loves her loft bed. It's the bunk bed MYDAL from IKEA turned it into a loft bed (something I had seen on Pinterest as well!). I found the bedding at Anna's Linens as well, which was a perfect accent color to contrast the color we chose for her walls.

The table and chairs were hand made by a dear family member. He made one for me, my sister and my cousin for when we had kids. My sister and cousin's kids are all grown up, but mine are just starting, so I love that I finally get to use them for the reason he made them!

I decided to place them in the middle of the room instead of up against a wall, as I had before, in hopes that she would use it more...and she does!! I can't believe it! It's the perfect distance from her art station as well as her kitchen area and her other toys! I love how much she is using now!

It's a sweet reminder of Papah and his beautiful heart!

For her window coverings, I copied what I did in her brother's room. I liked the blackout curtains for her room too as well as the sheer panel for accent.

And finally, for stuffed animal storage, I came up with this idea! I saw online how people had used the galvanized garbage cans as a laundry basket and I thought, it would also work for putting all of her stuffed animals in...and she has a lot!! I spray painted it white and made the liner using the same material I used to make the toy chest pad cover. I used to have her stuffed animals in a basket on the floor and it just became too overwhelming! It was as if stuffed toys were everywhere! This is a perfect solution because I can stuff them down, put the lid on and not see them!

I could not be happier about the way her room as turned out. It used to give me anxiety just walking in there because there was stuff everywhere and so many different colors and themes. Now, things are stored in closed containers and there are only a few simple simple color schemes! I still have to find something to put on the wall above the toy chest, but I have some ideas I'm working on, so keep an eye out for that post!!